


Returning to Ash

by BlueSpiritsLight



Series: Returning Home [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Illusions, hurt time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:02:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSpiritsLight/pseuds/BlueSpiritsLight
Summary: The heroes are deposited somewhere extremely familiar to Time. Somewhere he hasn't be able to return to for over a decade. It is not as he remembered though, and Time doesn't know how to handle the truth.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), Saria (Legend of Zelda) & Time (Linked Universe)
Series: Returning Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675546
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	Returning to Ash

“I know where we are…” Time stepped forward as he approached the familiar hollow log, the darkness inside calling him, singing of home. He continued into the shadows, stepping confidently along a half-remembered path, hearing the others stumbling behind him.

He frowned slightly when he thought he could hear the soft sound of an Ocarina being played, somewhere at the other end of the path. He moved a bit faster as he felt almost drawn towards the sound. He barely registered the footsteps of his companions as they fell farther behind him.

The music grew louder, and he felt a smile spread across his face. He saw light and barely kept himself from breaking into a run. Stepping into the sun and onto a wooden bridge, he slowed to a stop and could only stare.

She was shorter than he remembered, but he knew she hadn’t actually changed. He had grown in the many years it had been since he had been back. The lost woods had become impossible for him to successfully navigate as he had gotten older, and he had felt the loss of his family deeply.

Now he had the chance to come back and see them once again. 

“Saria?”

The music stopped, and the girl standing at the other end of the bridge looked up in surprise. He stepped forward as she stared at him in disbelief. She suddenly surged forward and he dropped to his knees and opened his arms, ready to catch her.

As he moved to wrap his arms around her, she vanished in a puff of black smoke, and he gasped in shock as a sharp chill ran through him like a knife. He looked at his empty arms numbly and fell back to rest on his heels. 

The forest seemed to melt around him and he staggered to his feet, rushing forward towards the village. The greens faded to grey and the tree trunks became charred. He could hear footsteps behind him, and voices calling out, but he could only focus on one thing right now.

“No… No no no no…” 

He reached the deku tree and froze at the sight that awaited him. A black husk was all that remained of the father figure and deity of the forest, the branches broken and scattered around the forest floor. He heard footsteps come to a halt behind him as the rest of the group caught up, but he couldn’t bring himself to face them.

The air still burned his lungs, as if the destruction was recent. He could almost smell the smoke…

He felt a thrill of fear at the realization and broke into an unsteady sprint, barely avoiding tripping on the crumbling remains of the great tree. Branches crumbled as he brushed past, but he paid them no mind.

As he ran the smell of smoke grew stronger, until it got bad enough he had to cover his mouth and nose to keep from coughing. He rounded a corner and couldn't help but let out the small cry of despair. 

Every single tree house was burned to the ground, some still smoking, and there was no sign of the forest children. 

“Fado? Mido? Saria? Anyone?”

His voice echoed in the silence of the dead forest, sounding too loud yet insubstantial at the same time. He moved in a daze around the village, going from one broken house to another, pictureing their inhabitants in his mind as he looked for any signs of their fate.

He reached a home slightly farther from the rest, the ladder completely gone and leaving no way to get up to the main floor of his old home. Not like it really mattered anyway, the inside of the tree had been completely burned away, leaving nothing but crumbling bark in a rough cylindrical structure.

Time choked on a sob and stumbled towards Saria's house. He collapsed on his knees in front of it, resting his forehead against the charcoal and covering his mouth with his palms to try and hold back his sobs.

This couldn’t be real. He waited so many years to return here, and now that he had… Everything was gone. He could still hear the Kokiri running around the forest, laughing and playing without a single care in the world. He could hear Saria playing the Ocarina for him and teaching how to play his own.

A hand rested hesitantly on his back and he turned, surprised to see it was actually Legend who crouched next to him, a grim look on his face. 

“Come on, Old man, deep breaths.”

Time took in a shuddering breath before letting in out again, trying to regain some semblance of control. He couldn't do this now, he had to make sure whatever had done this wasn't still nearby and couldn't hurt his boys.

He failed to protect one of his families, he would not fail this one. He couldn't. He wasn't sure he could live with himself otherwise. 

He took a final steadying breath and wiped the tears from his face before turning to face the others with determination and a cold anger in his heart.

"There's nothing we can do here. Let's try and find who did this and make sure my family is the only one they get a chance to hurt."

With that he pushed past them and left the charred remains of his childhood behind.

  
  



End file.
